


hey baby let's get mystic

by Snowsheba



Category: Aveyond, Pokemon GO
Genre: F/M, listen it's fine rhen and lars still have magic and stuff but they also have PHONES with POKEMON GO, well. a pokemon go au., yes it's a pokemon au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-14
Updated: 2017-10-14
Packaged: 2019-01-17 01:48:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12354921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snowsheba/pseuds/Snowsheba
Summary: rhendarzonsaid: AV1 au where instead of saving the world from Ahriman, Rhen and Lars set out on a journey to become pokemon masters. I’m mad because my phone can’t support pokemon go so yea i need a fic like this to satiate me… somebody write this and I’ll love you forever(originally posted on tumblr)





	hey baby let's get mystic

**Author's Note:**

> alterations to canon: rhen was sent to shadwood academy by her parents, lars does not own slaves, magic still exists in tandem with technology, they do not have to save the world, travel companions aren’t around, ahriman does not exist
> 
> just a warning: this was written in a little less than two hours, there was no editing so there will be mistakes, and there’s quite a bit of swearing. enjoy!

It starts out as a joke.

Rhen has no plans to download Pokemon Go, because she isn’t about to cut into her precious study time running around looking for - Pikachus or whatever, not when she has five papers due in the next two weeks and her computer is on the verge of quitting on her and she works five days a week for eight hours a day. She doesn’t need the distraction, she doesn’t know what the hell Pokemon are, and she doesn’t have any reason to waste memory and battery on her phone for a stupid game.

Until Lars comes along and says in that awful snide voice of his, “I bet you’re on Team Instinct,” she looks up the memes, and then she cracks her knuckles because it. Is. _On._

She gets the app later that day and spends two hours running around Veldarah - not walking, she doesn’t have time for that if she wants to hit all the PokeStops and get all the Pokemon she can - and, upon reaching level five, she decides that a _fuck you_ is in order. So she picks Mystic. Because she likes blue better than red and, while Candela is attractive, Blanche’s character design is on point. 

Just her luck to beat down Shadwood’s Academy gym down in the library and put herself on it to find someone with the username lars_tenobar stacking onto it, really, just her fucking luck, and it is only a few minutes later that Lars himself rounds the corner, disbelief on his face as he says, “You’re Team _Mystic_?”

“Surprise, bitch,” she says, feeling her insides coil with dread. Why couldn’t he have picked Valor?

He purses his lips at this. The silence stretches on between them - Rhen on her phone surrounded by books and papers, him with a heavy bookbag on his shoulder with his phone in one hand - only for both of them to gasp indignantly when the gym lost the blue hue and went to a blank gray. 

They meet each other’s gazes. A conversation passes in an instant: they’re in this together, or not at all.

“Okay, so,” Lars begins.

“We’re going to kick some Valor ass,” Rhen finishes, and at his determined nod they challenge the gym together and do exactly as she says they will.

* * *

It snowballs from there.

She refuses to call them dates, no matter what her friends say, when she and Lars meet up after their shared magic theory class to go Pokemon hunting for an hour or two. Maybe they stray a bit further into the forest than most because _that’s where the Eevees are, dammit_ , and maybe they start excelling in their respective sword singer/sorcerer classes because they’ve been getting a lot of self-defense practice in against giant spiders and aggressive chickens, and maybe, just maybe, Rhen’s had to stop Lars from walking off a cliff and Lars has had to push Rhen bodily aside so she doesn’t run into a tree. They’re not _dates_ , they’re an integral part of being a Pokemon Trainer and like hell is she going to do it halfway because Rhen Darzon does not do things in halves.

So it continues. Rhen drops a class to keep up with the Pokemon shenanigans; so does Lars, after holding out just a few more days than her. They get through the semester and start the next; the Academy’s gym has yet to pass from Mystic hands into anyone else’s, likely because of the CP 3276 Dragonite at its head (Rhen’s, thank you very much; Lars’s CP 3271 Vaporeon is just underneath), likely because no one bothers to go above level twenty whereas she and Lars have long maxed out. Eventually the semester finishes, Rhen and Lars pass with little suffering of their grades, and then their masters inform them it’s time Rhen becomes a full-fledged sword singer, Lars becomes a full-fledged sorcerer. 

They don’t have to talk about it to know that they would be traveling together, as the next morning they meet up, supplies in hand in messenger bags, ten phone batteries in their backpacks, fully charged along with their phones, sword at Rhen’s hip and staff at Lars’s back. 

“Dude,” Lars says, and the animosity is long gone by now, replaced long ago with affection, a tinge of exasperation and mock-teasing, “There’re going to be so many Ice-types on North Isle.”

“Regional exclusive is Mr. Mime,” Rhen says with a grin, and the small group of friends they had somehow managed to keep saying their farewells let out identical groans. “We’re going to be Pokemon _Masters_.”

And with that, they’re walking out of Veldarah, into the familiar woods, this time beyond. They’ve explored the entirety of Eastern Isle already - even the parts where they weren’t supposed to go, like the forest and Land’s End, everywhere - and it’s high time they go somewhere new.

* * *

They start getting a reputation that precedes them as they go along. It’s not entirely surprising - they crush every gym they find, constantly replacing high-level Pokemon with others, stopping at every town for at least a day or two to scope out the PokeStops, using Lure Modules in tandem when they find PokeStops close to each other - but it’s still enough to get Rhen to laugh hysterically and Lars to smile widely, unable to stop himself.

“We’re doing it,” Rhen gasps out when she can, one hand on Lars’s shoulder to support herself as she works out the worst of the giggles. The nearby group of young boys are staring at them now, silent instead of whispering about the two Mystic trainers that have been destroying everyone in their path. With the introduction of Trainer v. Trainer battles, this is very true. “We’re becoming Pokemon Masters, Lars, I can’t believe this.”

“Stop laughing, you’re making a scene.”

“ _Lars._ We’re _famous_.”

“Rhen, shut the hell up, I think that’s the mayor coming to tell us to fuck off.”

“I cannot _believe_ this, we’re frickin’ - we’re frickin’ Pokemon Masters, I can’t _believe_ \- ”

It’s the king of Thornkeep, actually, who tells them to fuck off, mostly because he’s held claim to the one gym in town for a year and now he can’t get it back and they’re also causing a scene, and so Lars and Rhen pick up some more supplies to last in the cold winter wonderland before setting off east, unsure of what they’ll find but eager to find out.

* * *

“So.”

“Yeah.”

They look out at the green grass, the giant mushrooms, the sparkling water, the giant bees everywhere. It looks horrendously fake but also hopelessly endearing. It helps that it’s not nearly as cold as the land they’d left behind.

“Meet in two hours, whoever has the strongest Pokemon buys meals for the next week?” Rhen suggests.

“You’re on,” Lars snarls, all friendliness gone, and with that they’re off.

* * *

Lars doesn’t return within the two-hour period, which isn’t entirely surprising - he loses track of time easily when he’s focused on something, from studying to doing projects to Pokemon hunting, so Rhen settles in to wait, smug and ready.

When twenty minutes pass, she packs up and starts to follow his trail, tracking him with what she learned in her classes back at the Academy. Anything could be keeping him and she wanted to make sure he hadn’t -

she stops when she crests a hill and sees his prone form lying motionlessly on the grass. A griffin pokes at him with a sharp beak, wings taut against its side, and when she takes a step it looks up and - and now it’s coiling on its back legs, wings outstretched, expression dark and angry. There’s blood on its beak that matches the blood at Lars’s stomach, and with a tight coil of anger in her chest Rhen draws her sword and prepares for a long fight.

Afterwards she’ll bandage Lars’s side up and spit chewed-up cassia leaf in Lars’s mouth, and then he’ll blink awake, see her face, and say “oh thank _fuck”_ before giving her a tight, brief hug, too quick for her to get over her surprise and return it. Then she’ll help him to his feet and he’ll pat his pockets and say, “Shit, where’s my phone?”

They find it at the griffin’s foot, a little distance away. The screen is still open, showing Lars’s avatar standing in a pristine green field without any indication of the bloodshed that had just occurred, and somehow it’s hilarious enough that they both end up choking on peals of laughter, holding onto each other to remain upright.

* * *

They leave the green place after that. They still need to graduate from the Academy, and the run-in with the griffin and the millions of bees somehow reminded Rhen of the hind back in the forest on Eastern Isle, so that is where they go. Lars doesn’t even ask questions when they stuff beeswax in their ears and Rhen holds up the mirror - he’s too busy catching the Zubats that have made their home in the hind’s cave and he spares only a cursory glance up when Rhen waves the harp at him.

“Want me to catch Pokemon for you?” he asks instead, and she gratefully hands over her phone. He knows her too well.

The trek back to Veldarah is an easy one, with Rhen slashing and hacking at enemies while Lars pauses occasionally to catch Pokemon for both of them, though by the time they return it’s nightfall and their masters allow them to stay in the dormitories one last time before getting their tattoos and uniforms stating their position. Rhen doesn’t think twice when Lars follows her to her room, up until they realize they’ll be sleeping on actual beds so he needs to go to his room, but they spend some time transferring Pokemon and powering up and evolving them before he goes.

The next morning they get some stares. It takes Rhen less time to figure out why than Lars, but once she does, her laughter tips him off as he realizes how scandalous it must’ve looked, and then they’re both cracking up as they walk out of the building and, uh. They could’ve have better exits, she’ll admit.

* * *

Western Isle is fun, mostly because Rhen gets to visit home for the first time in a long time, whereupon they discover her parents are both Valor and are in constant battle with Danny to hold the gym. It’s been passing from red to yellow for the time Rhen’s been gone, but once she and Lars arrive, it turns blue and, to everyone’s frustration, it stays blue. It’s great. Her parents hug her tightly before scolding her for rudely taking away the gym, but she just laughs and soon they’re fussing over Lars too. 

It’s surprisingly domestic. Even Lars, in this incredibly unfamiliar environment, looks at ease, though he sticks close to her side the entire time they are in Clearwater, from waking up to going back to sleep. It’s only when they’re leaving that Rhen realizes it looks a little weird, and even then it’s only because Danny pulls her aside before they go.

“I’m glad you’re happy with him,” he says, and because it’s Danny, he means it with all of his heart. Rhen looks at him and tries to figure out his angle; surely he knew about her crush on him before she left, so what is he trying to do? “You and Lars are a good match.”

_Oh._

“We’re not like that,” she says with a laugh. It’s not even faked - well, mostly. “We’re friends.”

“Right,” Danny says, in the tone of someone who really doesn’t believe her. He gives her one last hug that she returns before letting her go. “Safe travels. Kick butt for me.”

“You got it,” Rhen says with a wink, and then she makes a beeline for Lars and they’re gone.

* * *

“Hey, Lars?”

Lars pauses from where he’s standing near the cliff, staring out at the sunset. Their phones are both dead so they’re charging them from their batteries, but for now they’re just setting up camp.

“What?”

She watches him stand there, head turned over his shoulder to look at her, hands folded behind him to keep his cape from flowing too violently in the breeze. She had hated him when she’d first gone to school - the first Westerner in a long time to go - and he had picked on her relentlessly for the first two years, and to think the only reason they became friends is because of a stupid app on their phones that lets them catch Pokemon. They’re not even _real_ Pokemon.

“Never mind,” she says, and Lars grunts and turns back to face forward.

She’s not going to just tell him she thinks she could spend forever with him. That would be weird.

* * *

Sedona is nice, Rhen thinks, as cities go. It’s a port town so it’s busy and it’s full of people from all around the world, and it’s clean enough and nice enough. The thing that makes it great is how many PokeStops there are around and the seven gyms peppering just its market district.

“We’re staying,” Rhen and Lars say at the same time as they approach, glued to their phones, before looking up and laughing as they meet each other’s eyes. Rhen grabs at Lars’s sleeve as they go in to keep form being separated as they weave through the crowd, and they spend hours looking around for Pokemon before going to the inn and turning in for the night.

The next morning they find a reasonably-priced home for sale in their wanderings and, for some reason, both Rhen and Lars hesitate at the door. There’s an unspoken current running between them as they look at the price and then at each other, an understanding that this would change their relationship for the long haul if they actually went through with it, that this -

“Fuck it,” Lars says decisively, and Rhen nods in agreement - and so they set off in search of the lord selling the place.

* * *

They buy the house. The lord thinks they’re newlyweds. Neither bother to correct him as they go back and enter, and it has yet to be furnished but it’s under their joint ownership and Rhen realizes again that she’d just bought a house with her longtime-friend-former-rival - that she’d done it willingly, that doing so brought a swarm of butterflies to her stomach.

“Rhen,” Lars says as he closes the door behind him, and Rhen jumps when she’s suddenly turned around. His eyes are heavy on hers and, without realizing it, she licks her lips and doesn’t stop him when he steps just a bit too close.

She’s not sure who moves first. The only thing she does know for sure is that her phone clatters to the ground, as does his, and that his hair is unfairly soft and he’s just the right height and he smells like mint and a bit of sweat and his cologne and he lets out a small sound when she bites his lower lip, and - well, it’s nice to know her feelings are reciprocated, at least.

* * *

The next day they take down four of the seven gyms. Rhen can hear Team Mystic members cheering as they do so, though of course they can’t tell who’s doing it, and by the end of the day each gym has at least ten stacks each and yeah, there’s no way a single Valor or Instinct trainer is going to take them down easily.

“We still have to get South Isle’s exclusive,” Lars says, and really, the only change is that instead of her holding onto his sleeve he’s got his arm around her waist. It feels right, however it works, and she presses into him as she peers over to look at his phone.

“Think we can get a ship?” Rhen asks, thinking about the money they’ve gained from slain monsters. They’d dropped a lot on the house, but they still had a lot on them.

He looks at her. She looks at him. They change course to the docks. In little under an hour they’ve got a ship and a crew to help sail it and they have to change course every now and then to hit PokeStops that are in the middle of the ocean for some reason, and overall it feels something like a dream come true.

* * *

“We’re Pokemon Masters,” Rhen says to him at night, spooned against his back in the cot. It’s a little hot and uncomfortable but there is nowhere she’d rather be.

“Apparently,” Lars says.

“That’s the stupidest thing ever,” Rhen says.

Lars huffs on a laugh. She can feel it against the back of her neck and she smiles. “I’m not knocking something that led me to you,” he says eventually.

Just for that she slaps the arm around her middle. “Sap.”

“Only for you.” She snorts at that, and then snorts again when he mumbles, “Shut up and go to sleep.”

“What happened to being nice?”

He puts a hand over her mouth, Rhen bites it, and they end up not getting a lot of sleep that night.

* * *

South Isle is hot. Rhen regrets not having lighter clothes as they fight through wickedly-fast hyenas and giant scorpions, and once they arrive at the largest town on the mainland they’re quick to buy clothes. The fabric is loose and flowing and does a much better job at keeping her cool, though it also reveals a bit more leg than she’s used to and she could do without all the stares.

“Lars, it’s the wife that has a lot of husbands and not the other way around, right?” she says, sticking close to him.

“Beats me,” Lars says, obligingly slipping his hand into hers when she bumps her fingers against his. “That shopkeeper had five rings on her left hand and I think one of her wives came in to help out.”

“Let’s get the gyms and then the Pokemon and leave then. I don’t like how they’re looking at us.”

“I’ve had three propositions already,” Lars agrees, and Rhen’s glad to know at least she’s not the only ones fighting away jealousy when a man gets a bit too close to her and Lars tightens his grip on her hand.

* * *

They get the gyms and leave before anyone can figure out who on Team Mystic claimed them. They’ll return in the evening after exploring the Isle a bit more, this time with Rhen on Pokemon duty while Lars keeps pests from killing them, and they both stop at a cave entrance that screams _foreboding_ and _you will probably die here_.

“Do we go in?” Rhen says, frowning.

Lars shrugs. It was never really a question as they both step inside, and the imps end up being such a nuisance that they clear out the entire floor before attempting Pokemon Go. 

They almost die three times apiece, but it ends up being worth it: at the very end is Charizard with a ridiculous CP level, and though they have to fight their way back out, any gyms that had been claimed back in town were quickly won over with their Charizards placed at the top.

* * *

They sail back to Western Isle.

Rhen’s not sure how to feel. On the one hand, she’s been to all four regions, she is ranked at the best trainer in the world - she and Lars are constantly switching spots, though, so maybe she should say she’s one of two best trainers in the world - and she’s graduated from one of the best schools available. She’s… she’s not sure what to do with herself now, and it’s apparent Lars doesn’t either as they end up back in Sedona and retire to their house for the night.

“Hey,” Lars says, stopping her on her weary trek to the kitchen by wrapping his arms around her middle. His head comes to rest on top of hers as she puts her hands over his.

“What?” she says.

“We should get married.”

The way he says it is matter-of-fact, as if there is no other conclusion to their journey. He’s so entirely sure of who they are and what he is to her that there’s a complete certainty that she would say yes, and Rhen breathes in and wonders how is it a game on their phones brought them so close together that she knows that is exactly what he’s thinking without a shadow of doubt.

“Let’s do it,” she says, “From one adventure onto the next,” and when he circles around her and cradles her face in his hands he’s not the only one smiling into the kiss.


End file.
